City, Liverpool and QPR top spenders on agents' fees

Manchester City spent more than £10 million on agents' fees over the past year, it has emerged.

The champions spent more than any other Premier League side, a total expenditure of £10.5m - nearly £2m more than Liverpool, who shelled out £8.6m between October 2011 and September 2012.

The latest accounts, which cover the last two transfer windows, show the financial gamble made by Queens Park Rangers in a bid to keep them in the Premier League.

QPR, who had spent £2.5m in the previous period, saw a 300 per cent increase in
agents' fees with £6.82m worth of payments made to middle men.

The arrival of the likes of Julio Cesar, Jose Bosingwa and Djibril Cisse at Loftus Road in the 12 months has come at a cost, with the club still marooned at the bottom of the table, eight points clear of safety.

The lowest spenders on agents' fees were Southampton, who were the only Premier League club to spend less than £1m.

The combined spend of the 20 clubs amounted to over £77m - an increase from the £71.8m between October 2010 and September 2011.

Chelsea may be one of the biggest spenders in the transfer market, but they were only fifth in the table after spending £6.4m on agents, with Manchester United behind both Arsenal and West Ham with an outlay of £3.6m.